


In the Hard Shadow of the Moon

by somedayisours



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Force impressions sound like generational trauma, Gen, Identity Issues, Kylo feels basically like an original character and I don't know what to do about it, Past Lives, Past Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21699997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somedayisours/pseuds/somedayisours
Summary: The unasked question had never been about who he was, but who he would be.
Kudos: 4





	In the Hard Shadow of the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Title from _Traces_ by Matthew Shenoda.

They name the only child they'll ever have, Ben, after the spark of old hope that inadvertently introduced them. It sounds almost romantic when it's said like that but there was nothing romantic about Leia Organa and Han Solo. And 'Ben' wasn't even really Ben anyways.

When he's old enough his mother sends him away to his uncle to be trained as a Jedi. It isn't the wrong thing for her to do, he needs the control it'll give him, but he doesn't want that life. It wasn't the Jedi or the Sith that'd killed Padmé—that was her husband—but that doesn't mean she wants the force. What she doesn't want and what Ben doesn't want are nearly the same things because she's Ben now. She's herself all twisted up.

By fifteen he's one of Luke Skywalker's best students. Ben's not perfect, he's too prone to violence to have the top slot, but he's still the strongest among them. None of that matters though, because before he's made it to his eighteenth birthday he's burned his uncle's New Jedi Temple to the ground and slaughtered all of the other students. And then he isn't Padmé or Ben, but Kylo Ren.

As Kylo his tendency towards violence doesn't matter much, Snoke wants an attack dog, the First Order needs a beast and Kylo gets to be whoever he wants. Within reason.


End file.
